Shattered Orphan World
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: The Doctor thinks about the human race, and how they seem to be on a path of self destruction. Spoilers for Orphan 55


I don't own Doctor Who. Believe me, I'd love to, but unfortunately, I don't, but luckily I've got Fanfiction, right?

Please let me know what you think?

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Shattered Orphaned World.

_Is it just me, or does it seem convenient I saw an alternate timeline showing Earth as an Orphaned World so quickly after seeing my own world ravaged because the Master had discovered something horrific, some lie which was so unthinkable that's been told to the Time Lords over the centuries we've been in power that was so terrible that it led to him going that far despite trying to destroy Gallifrey just to get a new regeneration cycle?_

Time Lords were not superstitious beings in theory, although that was a facade. No, her people were a touch superstitious when it came to timelines and paradoxes, but that was something all races shared, a need to explain the unknown through the arcane without looking at the science of it all, and despite Rassilon's order of rationality, many Time Lords were naturally superstitious although she had never been although now she wasn't so certain; her travels across her many lifetimes had also given the Doctor an idea there was more to the universe than she had imagined when she had first left in the TARDIS with Susan, and the Doctor couldn't help but ask herself if the timing of seeing that alternative timeline even if it was a brief glimpse so quickly after seeing what the Master had done to Gallifrey was more than a coincidence.

Finding possible futures was nothing new for her; she didn't make a habit of dropping in on them, but she had encountered her fair shares of them from time to time, but thanks to Graham activating that teleport cube instead of landing on that version of Earth, destroyed by pollution because the human race was so busy obsessing over mundane issues instead of looking towards the bigger picture, instead of landing in the TARDIS she had no idea where in that timeline Earth had been destroyed.

It was likely to be in the 21st century the timelines diverged into that possible future; it was the most logical choice with all the poisons in the air, the nuclear waste, the plastic pollution in the oceans and so on. After all, that was why the Nestene Consciousness had tried to invade Earth when she in her ninth incarnation had met Rose for the first time.

While the Doctor knew humanity would grow and eventually leave Earth after discovering more efficient industries and more powerful and cleaner forms of energies, those possible futures were always a shadow, just waiting to come out of hiding and change the course of human history. The only thing which prevented them from making such an impact was the Web of Time, which recorded the humans eventually going out into space, and it was the future the Doctor and her friends - across different regenerations - regularly saw.

But the thing with time travel was even if the Web of Time and the Time Vortex regulated those alternate timelines, those shadows still existed, waiting to be found…

The Doctor just wished they'd had the TARDIS when they had arrived at Tranquility Spa instead of arriving because of a foreign teleport which deprived her of her ship, which made her really annoyed with Graham; surely he was smart enough to not just touch or put together technology which he didn't understand?

She knew she shouldn't be angry with her friends, but as they had noted, she had been in a bad mood for some time.

Sometimes she felt like saying to them _Well excuse me, I've just seen the planet I had thought I had destroyed in a war beyond your understanding ravaged after I'd saved it, sorry for being in a bad mood. _

But she didn't; not only would she have to face the feelings she had over what she had seen happen to her home planet when all she wanted was to find out for herself what this Timeless Child thing was although she knew the answers were on Gallifrey, but she didn't want her fam to see her break down and cry over the ruins of her planet.

The Doctor pushed aside those thoughts, although she dreaded to think what could make the Master destroy the cities of Gallifrey so viciously because she was frightened when she found out, and she would find out, much like she had done with the Bad Wolf, 'Mr Saxon,' and the Silence, she would be disgusted with her reaction.

She sighed under her breath in case anyone was nearby, and she focused on the last 'adventure,' if indeed you could call it that. If she'd had access to the TARDIS then she would have known they had arrived in a possible future for Earth instead of discovering it from the sparse number of breadcrumbs laid out before them, like that sign in the tunnels and the telepathic connection she'd formed with the Alpha Dreg, revealing those images of Earth's destruction which seemed like a racial memory than anything else; the Doctor had begun to suspect the truth from the little tidbits which were jumping out at them, but when she had seen the racial memory…it had horrified her although truthfully she wasn't that concerned since when they left in the TARDIS, she would show her Fam it wasn't a fixed future.

But that sign in the tunnels had clinched it for her although it brought back memories of that mess with Ravalox back in his sixth incarnation when she had been travelling with Peri, only to find the planet was an Earth which had been ripped out of orbit by the Time Lords to stop their precious secrets from being found.

But while she knew better about temporal mechanics, the Doctor couldn't help but wonder if this little visit to Earth, known as Orphan 55 in the possible timeline, was a coincidence after her visit to Gallifrey although she knew better than to think it; what had just happened with them on the alternate Earth was probably a sign of Gallifrey's current state rippling through the universe. That time where her second incarnation had found himself, Jamie and Zoe on that parallel Earth was just another example of crossing a time track, but she just couldn't shake the feeling she had only seen that timeline because of Gallifrey's current state.

Looking back, the Doctor realised that if Gallifrey _had _indeed been destroyed in the Time War because her wartime self had gone through with the original plan of using the Moment, then she would have encountered timelines that had diverged more often because without the Time Lords around to monitor the Vortex or the Web, they would be common. She knew even in their pocket universe where they'd been hidden away without anyone from the Daleks to the numerous other enemies they had found over the centuries, the Time Lords had continued with their self-appointed duty, of monitoring history and ensuring it followed a certain pattern in keeping with established and predicted events.

And as she looked back, especially on the immediate lives following the War, the Doctor realised that with the loss of the Time Lords, visits to those potential timelines should have been more frequent, and she had to thank her lucky stars Gallifrey had been around to prevent the worst of them from unfolding and reducing the universe's lifespan.

But the Doctor knew even without her people around to maintain the status quo, millions of years of Time Lord philosophy and science made the matter clear; time could be rewritten, changed and shaped because there were points in time where there was an alternative moment, nexus points like the one where her fourth self and Sarah had travelled to when Sutekh had been returning which were different from fixed points which could not be touched. The Doctor had little doubt in her mind or her hearts Orphan 55 was the result of a nexus point, where the human race had failed to grow up.

It wasn't anything to worry about in the mainstream timeline, but she would keep an eye on it nonetheless. Hopefully, she would travel to a time where the humans had finally left Earth as she knew it, and find out from her temporal senses if it was the right timeline.

She pushed that aside as another issue entered her mind. Humanity itself. She couldn't blame Yaz for angrily asking her how long she had known it was Earth they were on, but she hoped they weren't going to blame her for what had happened to their planet. It wasn't her fault humanity was more interested in arguing over issues which didn't make any difference. But the thing was they had to admit their people weren't very good at sorting out problems like pollution without pulling out a gun or a knife.

_Humans, _she thought to herself, _a species unmatched in the universe for being incredibly brilliant and yet so dangerously self-destructive, with a talent for self-denial as well. Not a good combination, especially if they want their homeworld to remain in one piece, but why do races have to destroy their worlds out of some stubborn denial or believe they won't destroy anything when they dump toxic waste everywhere? One of those mysteries I just can't seem to solve, no matter what. _

The Doctor had visited worlds where the societies there had followed the basic path 21st-century humans were currently travelling down now. Yes, they'd had their industrial revolutions and discovered engineering such as steam technology and then the internal combustion engine. But there was a difference between some of those races and humanity. The aliens usually saw the damage they were causing and they looked at the different sources of energy which were cleaner. No problem.

But the thing was humanity wasn't the only race to go down the slippery path and they wouldn't be the last. The universe was littered with worlds which were now so badly damaged by one form of pollution or another because their inhabitants were gone because they'd believed arrogantly it wasn't an issue. Arrogance was not a human trait sadly, it existed in the universe and drifted from one solar system to another like solar winds where it then infected a species without them even knowing.

The good news was humanity was starting to wake up to what they were doing to their planet, and that was good news for them since the universe was littered with races who believed they could pollute, pollute, and pollute without consequences, only for their worlds to become Orphan worlds. So there was hope; every day on Earth they were conducting studies in how to clean up the rivers and the oceans, hybrid cars were coming out, electric cars were becoming more available, and wind farms were being set up while solar technology was being investigated and improved upon to make it more efficient.

There was hope, but would it be enough?


End file.
